Are we negligent about birth of world class tourism in Addu?
Tourism and hotel management is synonymous with Addu people since its birth in 1972. Tens of thousands of Addu people work at different hierarchical levels of tourism industry in the country. As the geography of the atoll and political stand of former administration hindered growth of tourism in Addu, children’s of Addu, at their very young age, sailed toward jobs in the hotel and tourism industry across the nation. However tourism has started to take effect in a larger scale in 2006 when Maldives Tourism Development Corporation made $44million investment to develop Herathera Island Resort, which latter failed to harbor the need of Addu community at large. Today one would wonder why on earth the people so dedicated to tourism is incapable of helping $100million worth investment by Shangri-La at Viligili?Shangri-La Maldives Resort & Spa at Viligili, which is due to open in July 10, 2009, is seeking 30,000 m3 of white sand to develop its beach. According to Shangri-La, they would be able to open the hotel for business in July only if they get the required amount of white sand before monsoon. Dr. Simad Saeed, while meeting with the members of Hulhudhoo Island Development Committee and vessel owners last night, stated that Shangri-La might have to postpone the opening of the hotel until January next year if the problem of making beach is not resolved.
The quality and the quantity of white sand required by Shangri-La are available within Addu’s vast shallow lagoon west of Meedhoo “the Kedevaa Hera”. Kedevaa Hera is the area decreed by the members of Atoll Development Committee for extracting sand for civilian purposes and during the development phase of Herathera huge amount of sands were sold to Herathera by a group of Meedhoo people. Hulhudhoo Today has learnt on various occasions that two different parties had failed their attempt to extract sand from Kedevaa Hera and sell them to Shangri-La for unidentifiable reasons. Certainly the crux of the problem here is the huge amount of money involved in supply of white sand to Viligili and every party wants to grab most share of it. Ultimately none of the parties are able to undertake the project alone due to the pressure from other parties and islands.
Indeed, opening of Shangri-La Maldives Resort & Spa at Viligili is a long lasting dream of Addu people. Members of Hulhudhoo Island Development Committee and vessel owners collectively agreed that they are ready to accept extracting sand from Hulhudhoo lagoon. “Extracting sand might cause environmental degradations in the long run, but if Shangri-La guarantees environmental safety they could dug out sand from Hulhudhoo” stated committee. Committee further stated that Shangri-La could also dig the channel leading to deep sea as it has become shallow. “The channel needs to be dug 1.5 meters out to allow easy passage of the huge fishing vessels and cargo boats and I think Shangri-La would get huge amount of sand from there itself, apart from the proposed area for harbor”, suggested a member.
Dr. Simad Saeed, acknowledging the voice of committee and vessel owners being unified decision of Hulhudhoo community, stated that he would deliver this positive and uniform feedback to Shangri-La and that he would arrange a meeting with Shangri-La to further discuss the matter. He also assured to bring it to the attention of Shangri-La that none of the Hulhudhoo personals are taken for jobs at Viligili.
Posted by Hulhudhoo Today
on 4:01 PM. Filed under
